If You Look Closely
by Sasusakunaruable
Summary: The ending Team 7 deserved. There were scars that would heal, but not without some prodding. Rated M for language. One shot for now, but might grow to be more?
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey ya'll. I just was so unsatisfied with the ending of Naruto. Team 7 never got the closure they needed. The entire series was about bringing Sasuke back, and Sakura getting stronger, and of course Naruto finding happiness, acceptance, and becoming Hokage and instead the ending focused on him marrying Hinata! I was far from pleased, so heres my version of what their ending should have looked like. I have a few ideas about taking this ahead and turning this into a multi-chapter fic, but for now its a one shot! If you'd like this to progress please review and let me know! I am a sasusakunaru fan, I do love my OT3 so that might be where this is headed but for now I left it up to interpretation. Anyway, Enjoy!  
-

If you looked closely enough, you would notice the sideways glances that Sakura cast towards Sasuke when he wasn't looking. They weren't like the shy looks she used to give him when they were younger. Now they were a little more distrustful. She would glance at him and watch his graceful movements, not with awe but with curiosity. 'Who are you?' she would ask herself. 'What happened to you?'. fully allowing herself to look at him straight, fearing that if she did, he would vanish in front of her eyes, and the whole thing had been a cruel dream.

If you looked closely enough, you would notice that Naruto bit his lip whenever Sakura and Sasuke weren't looking at him. It was weird. Words had always come easily for the blonde, but since his last conversation with Sasuke, it seemed like he had run out of words to say. He still tried his hardest to fill the awkward gaps in conversation with his loud boisterous self, but when they weren't looking at him, Naruto would frantically sift through all possible conversation topics in his mind to make sure there was no silence between the three of them. The last time he had let either of his friends brood in silence had not ended well for any of them.

If you looked closely, you would notice that Sasuke always used his index finger to gently scratch at his thumb when he thought no one could see. It was a nervous habit. One that he picked up at some point that he couldn't remember. Whenever he saw Sakura and Naruto from a distance, he would see that Sakura's smile seemed a little too forced and Naruto's frantic gestures seemed a little too dramatic. It all seemed just the slightest bit off. He had gotten his closure with Naruto. They had made their peace, but he knew there was so much more to be done with Sakura. As he watched them, Sasuke dug his index fingers nail deeper into his thumb.

The three of them, they spent most of their time together since returning to the village. To the outside eye, they were inseparable. Naruto standing between the two, always talking, always smiling, Sakura looking away slightly but listening intently, and Sasuke stoic as ever.: yes;" Naruto was finally getting the attention he was deprived of his whole childhood and it filled some hole in him that he used to think would be permanently present. Yet, he knew something was missing. He knew he had to fix things before Sakura and Sasuke before everything was truly okay. He loved them both. He wasn't sure exactly in what way he loved Sasuke, but Sakura-chan had been his love since he first laid eyes on her years ago. Some things never change. And it hurt him to see her so scared, so nervous. Of what, he wasn't sure, but it was something that he was going to fix, in the way only Naruto Uzumaki could.

It began the way most of their evenings did. They sat in Naruto's apartment, following a rather spectacularly made meal by the Uchiha himself. Apparently, a self-imposed exile had taught him how to become quite the culinary master, even if the majority of his dishes included tomatoes. They sat strewed around the living room. Sakura laying on the floor, poring over some medical scrolls and writing notes in a notebook. Sasuke polishing his katana on a chair in a corner. Naruto sat with his own book of international politics and watched the two over the top of it instead of reading.

"Oye, Teme, Sakura-Chan" he called, slamming the book shut. "I'm sick of reading."  
Sakura glanced over at the clock. "It's been 7 minutes Naruto" she said with a slight air of disbelief.

"Yeah well, it's been 7 minutes too many" he replied, "Let's do something different today. I feel like we're running our lives into a rut this way!" he dramatically clutched his chest with his hand, effectively drawing a smile from Sakura who rolled her eyes.

"Were the last few years of excitement not enough for you, Naruto?" Sasuke asked from where he was sitting. Nonetheless, he had placed his Katana down.

"Less action, more fun" Naruto suggested sincerely.  
"What do you have in mind?" asked Sakura, cocking her head to one side.

"Naruto jumped off the couch with grace and headed towards his kitchen. Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a quick look of confusion before quickly averting their gaze. Naruto returned with a big bottle of sake and three small cups.

"Games?" he asked. His intonation made the question seem oddly childish, and the idea of it, the idea of one of the strongest shinobi in the world asking to play drinking games was too much for Sakura. She rolled over onto her back and clutched her stomach and let out the first genuine laughter in a while. Naruto grinned. He didn't know what was so funny, but anything that made Sakura happy had his seal of approval.  
"Teme?" he asked, turning to Sasuke. Sasuke shrugged.  
"Oh Naruto, what did you have in mind?" Sakura asked, recomposing herself.

"I don't know. Anything? I just figured I'd rather be trashed than reading that trash" he said vaguely waving towards his discarded book. Really, Naruto hoped this would help loosen the two up. Alcohol always had a way of getting the truth out of Sakura, and while he didn't know much about Sasuke and alcohol, Naruto figured his friend must be a lightweight considering how little experience he probably had with it.  
"Card game?" Sakura suggested.  
Sasuke got up and grabbed the pack of cards from the kitchen drawer and dropped it in front of her, taking a seat next to her, at a safe distance. Naruto joined them and handed out the cups, filling all of them to the brim. Sasuke would be easy to get drunk, but Sakura was a different story. Despite her small frame, her time with Tsunade had given her quite some experience.  
Naruto began shuffling the cards and passing them out. They began playing a game that they used to play as genin, the only game it seemed that the three of them all knew, "Bullshit". Naruto made it a point to make sure Sakura was the only one he called out, something that he did until he noticed a pink flush on her cheeks. Sasuke, however made it a point to only call him out, and Sakura came for both of them evenly. Soon, Naruto's own mind was getting a little fuzzy, and even Sasuke's graceful movements began slipping.

Sasuke put down a card, "6 of Spades" he said.

Sakura slammed her palm down. "BULLSHIT" she all but screamed. She was a bad liar and Naruto had been relentless, and quite frankly after an hour of playing, she was drunk. As they had played, their masks had begun to crack. Sakura began looking at Sasuke straight on. Naruto quietly watched the two of them, and Sasuke even broke his normal façade of uncaringness to gnaw on a thumbnail at one point. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Sakura and took a drink.  
"When did she get so good at calling it? She used to be the worst." Sasuke grumbled as he looked away.  
Sakura looked away and got quiet. Naruto scrambled to try to make sense of what was going on.

"….The worst?" she asked in almost a whisper.

Sasuke didn't look at her. He realized the gravity of what he had said and yet his pride stood in the way. He had hit an insecurity head on because he had lost his filter and he couldn't take it back or try to make it any better. He put his thumbnail back in his mouth.

"Well, she's not the worst anymore Teme, from the looks of it, it seems to be you right now." Naruto gestured towards Sasuke's growing pile of cards. He had finally made sense of the situation and was trying to fix it as soon as possible. This was not how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to be fun! He shot a flushed Sakura a grin.

"Hey Naruto?" she asked. Naruto's grin faltered. Sakura's voice sounded mean. He had heard her annoyed and angry, but never heard his name in her mouth with so much malice before. Naruto was scared.

"Don't you get tired of fixing Sasuke-kun's mistakes?" she asked, putting a sickly sweet emphasis on Sasuke's name.

Naruto blanched. "Sakura-chan" he began, but he was cut off by Sasuke.

"If I recall Sakura, he did that for you. Because you couldn't seem to let go of your silly little crush."  
Naruto gritted his teeth. It seemed that everything was about to come out tonight.

Sakura balled her fist. "You fucking asshole" she said through a stiff jaw. "I was trying to save you because I CARED about you. Naruto and I…we dedicated everything we had to fixing you because WE LOVED you." The use of the past tense was not lost on Sasuke. He was normally not one to participate in verbal arguments, he considered them a waste of time, but this time, it felt different. He felt like he owed it to Sakura to help her let all of her pent up aggression out. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it sober and neither would she, so instead, he participated in what he normally wouldn't.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, looking away, knowing it would only rile her up more.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, Teme, please lets not do this" Naruto asked, trying to smile a little more, but it was clear that no one was listening.

"No Naruto, I want to tell him what I really think." Sakura said, she got up and she was slightly off balance, but she needed to be able to look down at him as she had this conversation so she wouldn't lose her nerve.

"look at me" she demanded, standing in front of him, hands on her hips. Naruto sat besides them, hands ready incase Sasuke decided he had enough of Sakura's anger. He didn't think Sasuke would ever hurt Sakura again, but he wasn't optimistic enough at the moment to trust himself.

"Look at me Sasuke" Sakura demanded again. Sasuke obliged, looking up at her with his ever stoic mask back in place./p

"Did you even care?" she asked. "Like genuinely, even for a moment, did you think what Naruto and I were going through? We wanted to be there for you. We made you into family Sasuke. I may have asked too much from you, but Naruto? How could you do that to him?" She had dropped the honorific at the end of his name, and her balance was slightly off, but she said every word with conviction.

"Sasuke, I loved you" she said again when he didn't answer. "Again with the past tense" he thought to himself but he didn't say anything. "And all you had to say to me" she continued "was one fucking apology? You didn't even bother coming to talk to me alone after? And I was just supposed to forgive you? Forgive you for almost killing me? For killing my Naruto?"

This time Naruto looked up with shock. "My" Naruto?

She swiveled to face Naruto.

"And you" she said with an accusing finger, "who do you think you are?" Naruto was taken aback, and even the Uchiha let his surprise show.

"Why do you keep taking the burden for everybody? Naruto, you're human. There is only so much any one person can take, and you just keep taking and taking. Stop it. It hurts to me see you like this. You and I, we are a team, right? Treat me like it. I'm not the same weak girl I used to be! I can help you! Please I beg you, stop trying to fix everything on your own!"

Her tears were flowing. Naruto got to his feet slowly. His balance wasn't exactly perfect either. He hesitantly put his hands around Sakura. "I'm sorry" he murmured into her hair.

She shook within his arms, against him, as she cried, but she shook her head. "No, Naruto. No. I am sorry."

Naruto's eyes fell on Sasuke who had his hair covering his eyes and he was looking away. "teme?" Naruto asked tentatively, still holding onto Sakura. He was unsure how Sasuke was feeling but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Sasuke got to his feet slowly too. "Sakura.." he began. Sakura stepped away from Naruto to look at Sasuke. "I am happy that you finally got it all out. All of that anger. I know how anger can consume someone. I don't want to do that to you." He said. Sasuke spoke slowly, softly, barely making eye contact.

Sakura's mouth opened in shock, and Naruto released his grip on her completely. If this is where it was going, he knew his place with the two of them. He would let her go.

"Sasuke-kun" she started.

"Let me finish…. please" Sasuke said still looking away. "I messed up, bad. I don't expect you to understand, I cannot ask that of you. But I truly am sorry. Thank you. For caring enough to not give up. I do not know how, but I want to fix this. Fix us." His eyes flitted to Naruto. "fix all of us, it's my turn."

Sasuke stepped closer to Sakura and Naruto, and awkwardly draped his arms around Sakura's shoulder. He realized that this was outside his comfort zone, but he wanted to do something for someone else for a change. Naruto stepped back. This was Sakura's moment, but he felt a warm hand on his wrist. She pulled him in. They awkwardly hugged. The three of them. Something they would have never imagined happening in a thousand years.

Soon between the two tall men, there was shaking. Was Sakura crying again? Naruto and Sasuke both stepped back, nervously looking at their friend, their girl.

But she was giggling. She looked up at both of them ,genuine happiness dancing in her emerald eyes for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"I love you guys" she said without hesitating.

Naruto followed with "I love you guys, too"

Sasuke stared at both of them and said nothing.. Some things would take time, but he was grateful his family would always give him time to do that.

"Now, Dobe, pick another game, this one was lame" he said, still smiling slightly.

The three broke apart, feeling warm and fulfilled.

As they sat back down, Naruto talked freely, Sakura and Sasuke managed to look at each other, and Sasuke's hands did not fidget in the slightest.

They weren't sure what the future held, but they knew it held it for all three of them, together.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning came too soon for Naruto's tastes. As the bright sun shone through his windows, he felt a throbbing headache starting right behind his eyes. He turned away and nuzzled into whatever was closest to him.

Suddenly, the headache wasn't as far away as it was seconds before.

"Watch it, Dobe" he heard Sasuke grunt before rolling away from him.

Naruto grabbed his head and looked up at his friend, glaring. Apparently, Naruto had tried to snuggle with Sasuke's thigh, something which the uptight prick wasn't very fond of. Naruto grumbled a few curse words to himself and started to get off the floor, his back stiff. That friendly bonk had erased any idea of going back to sleep from Naruto's system. He looked around his living room haphazardly. There was a stack of cards that had somehow spread across the entire floor, his own t-shirt, wet, slung across the back of a chair, and empty bottle of sake, and of course, his teammates, sprawled out on the floor.

Naruto couldn't help but grin to himself. For once in their lives, they had managed to do something normal.

The pounding in his head grew steadily as he helped himself to his kitchen, grabbing some pills and a glass of water. He chugged down his own pill and brought the glass and pill over to Sakura. He leaned over next to the sleeping girl, who had somehow managed to wedge herself between the couch and the coffee table. Why she hadn't just taken the couch was anybody's guess. He touched her shoulder gently, and her normally immaculate reflexes were slowed by the pounding between her eyes. She let out a soft groan.

He put the pill in her mouth and held the glass of water to it as well. Normally, such a close interaction would have gotten a proper smack from Sakura, but perhaps their conversation last night, or their hangovers kept such an occurrence from happening.

After making sure she was okay, Naruto went over to Sasuke.

He wasn't nearly as gentle this time. He nudged Sasuke with his foot and waited for the man to sit up.

"Drink." He ordered, handing out the water glass that had just enough left for Sasuke to take his pill.

Sasuke would have normally argued about being bossed around, but the same thing that was subduing Sakura had had its effect on him as well. He silently obliged.

Naruto chuckled and absent mindedly scratched his stomach and headed over to his bathroom for a much-needed shower.

" _Oh, how the mighty have fallen"_ he thought to himself.

Minutes later when Naruto came back out, he smelled the delectable scent of warm tea circulating around his apartment. Sasuke had apparently gotten himself together enough to make some.

Tying his towel around his waist, Naruto approached Sasuke in the kitchen, dripping water on the floor as he did.

"I like sugar in mine" he said, getting close enough to Sasuke to dampen Sasuke's shoulder with the droplets from his hair.

Sasuke would never admit it, but he was a bit startled. His senses were a little dulled this morning, and he was too busy tending to his upset stomach to notice when Naruto exited the shower.

"That's nice" he retorted trying to hide his surprise. "Go make it".

Naruto let out a slight whine, but noticed that Sasuke grabbed not one, but three mugs from the cabinet anyway.

"How is Pinkie holding up?" Naruto asked, vaguely gesturing to his living room. He would normally never let Sakura hear him call her that, but between Sasuke and Naruto, the name had sort of become an inside joke.

"She'll live." Sasuke said, taking the tea strainer to the sink.

Naruto sauntered back out to the living room, and saw Sakura sitting up, next to a pillow that hadn't been there when he had left.

" _Maybe Teme has a heart after all"_ Naruto thought to himself.

Sitting there, looking a little lost, and a little murderous all at once, Naruto thought to himself that Sakura had never looked more beautiful in her life. He wanted nothing more than to help her to her feet and kiss her, but he knew where he stood with her.

He settled for a big "Good Morning!" and a cheeky grin instead.

"Where do you get your energy from?" Sakura groaned, throwing the pillow at her blonde teammate. It wasn't his fault that she felt crappy, but she would rather blame something tangible than her own poor decisions.

"The furball" Naruto replied, laying a head on his bare stomach, and grinning again.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Only Naruto could refer to something like the Kyuubi in such a way. Sasuke walked out of the kitchen, balancing three mugs of steaming tea and a bowl of sugar on a tray. He set it down between Sakura and Naruto silently and waited expectantly.

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a look, before she thanked him for the tea, helping herself to the smallest mug. Naruto bumped shoulders with Sasuke and grabbed a mug for himself. The three settled back in to their respective spots from the night before, but this time the silence was comfortable instead of strained. Naruto smiled inwardly. Finally. Now they could actually start healing.

After tea, the three took turns getting ready in the bathroom, and headed out towards the Hokage's tower. Following the war, there weren't any big missions anymore, just a lot of escorts. Sasuke was pardoned, but he wasn't completely trusted by the elders and to give in to this, Kakashi made a point to give the three of them as many "loyalty" missions as he could. They were the kinds of missions that dealt with a lot of lords and elders and made Sasuke visible to all of Konoha's foreign relations. Sasuke's immaculate manners and air of nobility, Sakura's kind and patient demeanor, and Naruto's exuberant self actually made the three of them very good at missions of this sort.

Kakashi knew his former team were too qualified for missions like this, yet the pay was good, and for now it was the most he could give them. The three filed into his office, ready to go.

"Escort. Daimyo's son. 6 months." Kakashi didn't look up from the stacks of paper in front of him as he continued. "A really unstable political climate where the kid is from, and a lot of people out to get him. Should be more fun than usual. The baby will be at the front gate in an hour, you should be there too. There's something going on and I am not sure what, but I am hoping you can figure it out for me."

Kakashi finally looked up from his papers and eyed his former students and crossed his fingers.

"The village you're headed to, it seems like they're planning something. They have been amassing resources, they managed to avoid the majority of the fighting in the last war, and overall it brings a whole new meaning to 'hidden village'."

Kakashi tossed a scroll, which Sasuke caught easily with one hand.

"Details in there."

Sasuke nodded, and the three took their leave, wordlessly agreeing to meet at the front gate in an hours' time.

Sakura got there first and saw that a guard that she didn't know so well was waiting by the front gate with a small blue bundle in his arms. Sakura tentatively approached him.

"Kitsune" the guard said as Sakura approached him.

"That's an odd name" Sakura replied leaning over the bundle, holding out a finger towards the baby. Bright brown eyes looked up at her curiously.

"I know, I thought the same thing. He's a cute one though. Grows on you. It's a pity what happened to his mother."

Sakura eyes snapped up.

"Yeah, she came here while she was pregnant and passed away shortly after. Heard she was trying to avoid something, but we aren't entirely sure what. Anyway, this little man has to go back home to his father's home." The guard said the last sentence almost with a hint of sadness.

Sakura made a mental note of everything the man said, not knowing if this was going to be helpful information later on. She had just managed to hold the baby boy when Sasuke appeared next to her.

She turned to show him the bundle in her arms. He assessed the child with a sort of nonchalance. It was funny to him how different his life was from where it was a year ago. The baby looked up at Sasuke and giggled.

Sasuke looked back at the guard. "His bag? He probably has essentials."

The guard faltered under Sasuke's unmoving gaze but went to grab a bag from behind his desk anyway.

"Baby formula, powdered milk, just mix it with water, diapers, change of clothes, pacifier, toys, blankets, and a baby carrier so you can strap him to you as you move."

Sasuke wordlessly took the bag and slung it over his back. Behind him he heard a soft landing. So, Naruto had arrived. Last. Of course.

"Aww Sakura-Chan! His little nose!" Naruto excitedly said, flashing his fingers in front of the baby. The baby gurgled and reached out towards Naruto. Sakura handed the baby over.

"He likes you" she said with a soft smile. Naruto had a way with people, no matter the age.

"Whats his name?" Naruto asked, still cradling the child in his arms.

"Kitsune" Sakura replied.

"Well hello little cub" Naruto said, rocking the baby slightly.

"Let's head out" Sasuke said, walking slightly ahead of the other two.

It was weird to go from a rogue ninja who was in a bingo book to caring for a child and Sasuke wasn't quite sure how to react to the situation.

Sakura quickly fell in step with him, and Naruto joined on his other side, still slightly rocking the child.


End file.
